Embroidery

Caps, bags, polos, jackets, beach towels. Yes, we offer embroidery on all of these items and so much more. Small quantity runs. Large quantity runs. Bring it on! We’ll make your logo proud.

THE EMBROIDERY PROCESS

Embroidery is decorative stitching on fabric. It includes logos, designs, lettering and monograms.

There are a number of very detail-driven steps that go into creating a beautifully embroidered garment. Here’s a quick synopsis of how the magic happens.

ART SUBMISSION

Whether using an existing logo or creating a new design, we look for fine detail, gradients and small lettering that may not translate well. We’ll be sure to make a recommendation or give you some options if your logo will not embroider well on a particular garment. It may take a few edits to get the design just so, but we’d rather take a bit more time to make it sew just so (thread humor is pretty dry).

ART REQUIREMENTS: WHAT KIND OF ART IS GOOD FOR EMBROIDERY

All art files are re-drawn as digital stitch files in preparation for embroidery. The best embroidery comes from very clean, high quality digital files. Vector format is preferred, but we’ll work from a pdf as well. Lettering should be at least 0.25” tall. Keep in mind that thin lettering and small details do not embroider well, especially on deep pile garments like fleece.

SIZING: MAXIMUM SIZING FOR YOUR LOGO

Each type of garment has its own sizing requirement. Use this list as a guide:

Caps – 2.25″ tall and 4″ wide

Visors – 1″ to 1.25″ tall and 4″ wide

Shirts, left chest – 3″ to 3.75″ wide

Square Logos – 1.5″ to 2″ on a side

Circular Logos – 2″ to 2.5″ in diameter

Full Back Logos up to 11″ x 11″ – for jackets and other sturdy fabrics only. **

**If your design requires large, dense embroidery over 10,000 stitches, please select heavyweight fabrics OR fabrics with tight weaves. We’ll guide you to what will and what won’t work well.

HOW FABRIC TYPE AFFECTS AN EMBROIDERED DESIGN

Did you know that the same embroidered logo can look different when sewn on various garments? Fabric weight, thickness, weave and content all effect how the stitches will hold up next to each other. For this reason, it is important to let us know what garments you will be ordering when requesting an embroidery quote or placing an order.

Embroidery naturally looks better on stronger fabrics. Examples of fabrics that sew really well are caps, twill, canvas, poly denier nylon (bags and duffels) and most outerwear. Logos on these fabrics generally don’t require as many underlay fill stitches to maintain the integrity of the design.

Soft or flimsy fabrics, like rayon, silk, pima cotton and dry fit fabrics, require a very different digitizing approach and more underlay stitches to stabilize the embroidered design.

High pile fabrics, such as fleece, sweatshirts, hoodies, polar fleece, terry cloth (beach and bath towels) and other thick fabrics hide the small detail of a custom embroidery design and therefore have to be modified to work well on those substrates.

PRICING

Embroidery is priced based on the number of stitches in the design, the complexity of the logo, the number of thread colors, and how many garments you are ordering to be decorated with the exact same design and thread colors. The stitch count generally equates to the amount of time needed to decorate your garment. A hat logo or standard left chest logo has 8 – 10 thousand stitches on average. The more stitch intensive the design, the higher the cost to run as it takes longer. Easy right? Send us your design and we’ll send you a quote. Really easy.

MINIMUMS

We try to accommodate most orders – our minimum is 6 pieces of the same type of garment. If ordering hats and shirts, that means 6 of each as they require different embroidery files to be used.

DIGITIZING

Once the design is finalized, it’s sent to be digitized using specialized software. This is the process of translating the digital art files into stitches, creating a map of stitches for the machine to follow.

This is where the garment, fabric and location are all taken into consideration when creating the sewn design.

SEW OUT

We can view a virtual sample of what the sewn design will look like which is fairly realistic, but we prefer to create an actual stitched out sample. Once sewn, we may choose to edit parts of the design we feel can work better, or we will send you a proof to approve if ready for production. The beautiful thing – once it’s created, we can use it again and again for the same type of garment. Designs are created differently for hats and flats – so they must be treated as two types of orders and each order must meet the minimum requirements.

DECORATING – THE MAGIC HAPPENS HERE

So now that your design is ready, it’s time to sew. The garments are backed with a stabilizing material and hooped – the embroidery hoop is a plastic ring that snaps around the area of the garment to be sewn and attaches to the machine. These steps are taken to stabilize the garment as the needle sews the fabric. Once sewn, the excess backing is removed and trimmed. The garment is steamed to remove the hoop mark (this does not damage the garment and will disappear when laundered). Your order is folded and counted and boxed up, awaiting the day you open it and say wow.

TACKLE TWILL APPLIQUE

Yes, we offer Tackle Twill Applique. Pricing is based on the size and number of colors. Ask us for a custom quote.

NUMBER OF THREAD COLORS

Each embroidery design can have up to 8 thread colors. Pantone Color matching is not possible, but we will come as close as possible to your requested color. Embroidery threads have a sheen that is quite unique making it difficult to match them to colors on paper. But we’ll try, and we’ll come really close!

TURNAROUND TIME

Typical turnaround time is ten business days once the final art files have been approved – set up of the artwork depends on the complexity of the design and the art provided. For future orders, once your logo has been set up, production is generally 7 – 10 business days. Rush orders are available and may incur a fee.

STOCK EMBROIDERY DESIGNS

We also offer stock embroidery designs. There are thousands – and they cover every sport, holiday, animal and event you can think of. You can browse the catalog in our showroom or ask, and we’ll help you find it, or create it for you!

Examples of our work can be found under the Quote Request to the right of this page.

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Contact us at 609-645-7319 to speak with a Lucky Dog customer service representative about embroidery, or request a quote.